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Mysteries of God and the Church


Lately, I have been finding a lot of great insight in Catholic Theologian Aidan Nichol's The Chalice of God intended to be something of a swan song of his theological thought. One great unifying thought to my life of faith from the book that speaks to often in the book is the unity of the greater mysteries of Christ life with the lesser mysteries of the Church, that is the sacraments. The sacraments re-present the mysteries of Christ to his Body, so their participation in those mysteries grow as they seek deeper communion with the life of the Son, and through the Son life in the Trinity in which He dwells. 

From these lesser mysteries, then comes our prayer life which he sees as an interiorizing of the liturgy that we have participated in. Thus the grace flows from Jesus' life through the mysteries of the Church to the spirit of the individual faithful, where like seeds, the mysteries germinate to bear fruit in the Christian soul. These, then, of the mysteries returns with us to the celebration of the liturgy as offerings, wherein we are drawn deeper into said mysteries through immediate contact with them sacramentally.

This notion that A) the myseteries of Christ life are present in a real, substantial way in the liturgy, especially preeminently the Eucharist B) that our personal prayer inteiorizes the liturgy, and then enhances our participations in the Mysteries of Christ through the liturgy has enlivened the Rosary quite a bit, and with its emphasis on the saving mysteries of Jesus WHOLE life, in turn paints the movements of the liturgy in bold colors, by bringing our personal encounters and reflections with said mysteries back to the sacraments. No wonder it has become such a prominent prayer form among Catholics (along with Eucharistic Adoration, which extends the celebration of the Eucharist into another liturgical AND personal dimension). 

This aspect of the living mysteries of Jesus life immediately present in the Liturgy, and shared with the faithful through the sacraments (especially communion_), and the relationship between personal prayer and the liturgy (and by extension Jesus life) is not emphasized enough in the liturgy itself, much less in the formation of children or catechumens. It certainly didn't stick out to me in such a profound way til now for me.

Location: Asheville, NC

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